Top 5 Samsung Galaxy Note 8 features that make it worth the price

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note 8 a little over a week ago, with the phone expected to go on sale starting mid this month, but availability in Kenya will have to wait until October.

Given that we have more than a month before the new Samsung Galaxy Note 8 steps foot in Kenya, there’s still plenty of time to think about whether the Note 8 price in Kenya is worth it. In the U.S., the phone is priced at $930, but by the time it reaches the local market, it will be priced at a mouth-watering Ksh 100,000.

Of course, Samsung is still positive that many will buy the Galaxy Note 8 even at such a hefty price tag, but there’s that group that is still not convinced about the worth of the Note 8. If you are one of them, we have lined up top 5 Samsung Galaxy Note 8 features that we feel make the phone worth buying – even at Ksh 100,000.

The Infinity Display

According to Samsung, Infinity Display lets you view more and scroll less. At a staggering 6.3 inches, the Galaxy Note 8 is a true representation of this argument. The display lets you view more while reducing the instances of scrolling through a page. Even before experts from DisplayMate named the Note 8’s screen as the best, on-paper specs had already placed it atop the competition.

We all know what Samsung can do when it comes to display panels. The company’s Samsung Display is the largest display maker in the world and with all the technology, man power and financial muscle of the company, we couldn’t expect anything less than what the Galaxy Note 8 has to offer.

Dual camera

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will go down in history as the first from the company to feature a dual camera setup. In addition, the phone is already in the books of history as the only one with support for optical image stabilization on both sensors. Usually, other smartphones with dual cameras only support OIS on one sensor, but Samsung is unique on this front. One of the two 12MP sensors has a wide-angle lens and an aperture of f/1.7 while the other is a telephoto lens with an aperture of f/2.4, support for 2x optical zoom and up to 10x digital zoom.

If anything, all these are supposed to make the camera of the Galaxy Note 8 the best in the smartphone world, perhaps even better than the 90-rated (DxOMark) HTC U11. The 8MP selfie camera, which also comes with the same f/1.7 aperture, supports 2K video recording, autofocus, and Auto-HDR.

6GB RAM

Even though not the first from Samsung to feature 6GB RAM, it’s the first time such a massive RAM module is appearing on a Galaxy Note phone. Many Android users are always asking for more RAM and with the Galaxy Note 8, your questions have now been answered. If the 4GB RAM on the Galaxy S8 or Note 5 is too small for your needs, there’s 2GB more on the Note 8.

S Pen

What makes the Galaxy Note series unique? Definitely the S Pen! With each Note iteration, Samsung comes in with updates, new features and even new designs to the stylus. The latest S Pen on the Galaxy Note 8 is a product of two years of refinement, which makes it a superior stylus that is more productive and can even work in water thanks to its IP68-certified body, just like the Note 8 itself.

The pressure sensitivity of Samsung Galaxy Note 5’s S Pen is 2048, but this doubled on the Galaxy Note 7 to 4096 levels. Given the Note 7 was literally never used here in Kenya, the company is giving us the same pressure sensitivity on the Note 8 S Pen. You also get support for features such as Translate, Screen Off Memo and Live Message.

In short, the new S Pen promises quite a lot when compared to the 2015 Note 5 – and you can expect it to get better with more software updates, especially based on Android Oreo.

According to Samsung, the Galaxy Note 8 has a new feature known as App Pair. Rather than go through the usual hassle to open and use two apps on the screen, App Pair lets you add the two apps you want in the Apps Edge Panel and when selected, they’ll launch side-by-side, always.

Extras

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 has a flurry of features that spice up an already juicy phone. You’ll come across an iris scanner, facial recognition feature, fast wired and wireless charging, Samsung DeX, Bixby, 3D Touch home button and dual-SIM connectivity, among others.

All these, coupled with the massive raw power of the phone, do give the impression that Samsung Galaxy Note 8 might just be worth the Ksh 100,000 price tag.